Who Are You?
by Morivanim
Summary: On his usual trip to visit his mother for her birthday,Spencer Reid meets a nurse who turns his world upside down. Rated T for future content
1. Good Morning Diana

This is my first full Criminal Minds Fic and just as with my one shot it involes my favorite Dr. Specer Reid. I'd love and appreciate feedback. Thanks and enjoy.

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"Good morning Diana." A young woman in her late 20s said as she approached an older woman who was sitting in a rocking chair reading Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary.

"Good morning Lisa." Diana said putting her book down.

"You've got another letter." Lisa said handing Diana her daily letter. Diana recieved a letter every day. The postmarks were from all over the country but they were always from the same person, her son, Spencer. " What's he up to now?" Lisa asked sitting down in the chair next to her.

"He's in Kentucky, a man is kidnapping women and holding them somewhere. Spencer and his friends are trying to find him." Diana told her as she read the letter.

"Sounds exciting. Do you think they'll find him?" Lisa asked.

Diana looked up from her letter and smiled. "They always do."

"Good." Lisa said before standing back up and leaving Diana to read her letter in peace.

Lisa had been working at the Vegas psychiatric facility for about a month and she already had a favorite patient. Diana Reid, was a schizophrenic and a brilliant woman. On her first day at the facility she was asked to bring the patients their mail, Diana had been the last one she had to deliever to. Diana had be reading Lisa's favorite book, Felix Holt: The Radical, by George Eliot. Lisa had commented on the book which had seemed to shock Diana.

"You've read Eliot?" she had asked.

"Yes, he's one of my favorites. In fact that's my favorite novel." Lisa had told her. Diana had looked her up and down before saying anything else.

"Most girls your age favor Austen or Bronte" Diana commented.

"Guess I'm not like most girls my age then." The two soon began a discussion of the book. By the end of the conversation Diana had given her approoval of Lisa. Lisa had at one point in their conversation began to wonder why Diana was there at all, until she began to tell Lisa about her son. He was supposedly a genious, having joined the FBI, with some obscure unit Diana called the Behavioral Analysist Unit. According to Diana the unit dealt mostly with seriel killers, even one that Diana herself had know. Hearing her talk about the boy upset Lisa, who had simply assumed that this was the delusion keeping Diana here, so she felt no need to check on the reality of the story with any of the other workers.

The next day when Lisa had delivered the mail she took a look at the name on Diana's envelope. It matched the one Diana had given as the name of her son, at least the boy was real if nothing else, Lisa had thought. Lisa still maintained that the boy was real, but everything else just seemed too outlandish to be anything more than delusion. Lisa soon learned that it wasn't Diana's fault for the illusions, she had read Lisa one of the boy's letters and it was just like all of the stories that Diana told, full of crime mysteries. The only conclusion that Diana could come up with was that Diana's son was a writer, telling his mother stories to make her happy. While she appreciated the contact, Lisa found herself angry that the boy would play into his mother's delusions like this. Lisa shook the thoughts of Diana and her son out of her mind as she went over to Mr. Johns to see if he would like to play a game of checkers.

"What's that?" Derek asked from his seat across the aisle. The team had just finished up a case in Kentucky and were on the jet back to Virginia.

"A letter from my mom." Spencer told him gesturing to the paper.

"You got mail in Kentucky?" Derek asked.

"No, I got it before we left, haven't really had time to read it." Spencer told him as he quickly read through it.

"How is your mom?" Derek was genuinely curious. It wasn't often that Spencer talked about his mom.

"She's good. There's apparently a new nurse on staff, and she actually likes her." Spencer smiled as he said this.

"That's good to hear. Her birthday's coming up soon right?"

"Yeah. Next Thursday, I'm going down for the week."

"We'll miss you kid." Derek said giving Spencer a smile and putting his head phones on.

Spencer smiled back and re-read his mother's letter. His mother seemed happy for once, whoever this new nurse Lisa was, he was glad she was looking after his mother. According to his mother the girl was young, and bright, and they often spoke about books, his mother's favorite topic. He was sort of excited to meet this girl and for once Spencer was actually looking forward to going home.


	2. Fun and Flight

Saturday night a few of the nurses had asked Lisa if she wanted to join them for a drink after work and she quickly agreed, a night out would really do her some good. After work they all met up at a bar just down the road and immediately the drinks began to pour. Though the first few hours were spent talking about anything but work, but as the night went on work began to pop up in the conversation.

"Do you think it would be appropriate to wear a push up bra and a low cut shirt to work next week?" Emily, another nurse, asked out of the blue.

"Why would you want to do that? Got a thing for Mr. Richards?" Lisa asked causing everyone to laugh.

"No!" Emily protested," Because it's Diana Reid's birthday next week." She said as though it was a well-known holiday that Lisa had forgotten.

"You know I don't think she swings that way." Lisa said causing another bout of laughter.

"Oh dear, sweet Lisa, so young, so naïve," Rachel began. "Our dear, sweet, slutty friend Emily is referring to the fact that every year for Diana's birthday her son comes into town for a visit and Emily tries unsuccessfully to get in his pants."

"Seriously?" Lisa asked receiving an enthusiastic nod from Emily. "The guy is that good looking?"

"Beyond, that good looking!" Emily said as she seemed to drift off into a day dream.

Lisa raised her eyebrow and Rachel rolled her eyes.

"He's cute at best," Rachel said, "A little weird, but he's nice enough."

"Well I guess I'm looking forward to meeting him then." Lisa said, ending the conversation by buying another round of drinks.

Spencer stared out the window of his commercial flight. It was always such a different experience than flying in the jet. There was more noise and there was far less space to move around, which always made him uncomfortable. As it was he was already agitated knowing that he was missing an entire week of work. He was originally just going to take his usual few days off, but Hotch had insisted he take the whole week stating that family came first, so he took the time.

When the plane landed and Spencer got his things he went immediately to his hotel to check in. He unpacked his things and looked at the clock. It was just a little after noon. He thought about just sitting and reading for a while, or going down the casino, but for once he was excited to visit his mother. He wanted to meet the nurse that made his mom happy, so he made up his mind and called a cab.


	3. Nothing Special

On Monday Emily and Lisa had gone out for lunch. When they got back Rachel found them in the locker room getting ready for her own break.

"Hope you wore that push up bra Emily." Rachel said as she pulled her bag out of her locker.

"Excuse me?" she asked, not quite remembering the conversation they had had on Saturday night.

"Lover boy's here."

Emily's eyes shot wide open. "But her birthday's not until Thursday, he shouldn't be here until Wednesday." She said as she flung open her locker to begin fixing her hair.

"Looks like he couldn't wait this year," Rachel said before giving a small wave and leaving for her break.

Lisa didn't say anything, but she did laugh as she watched Emily fuss with herself. Throwing her hair up into its usual bun Lisa walked out of the locker room and out to get her patients' medicine for the afternoon.

It wasn't hard to spot Spencer Reid, anyone who wasn't there on a daily basis tended to stand out. She couldn't tell how tall he was, as he was sitting down across a table from his mother. What she could tell is that he was very skinny and looked a lot like his mother.

After finally seeing him she had to say that she didn't understand why Emily seemed to be so attracted to him. Rachel had been right, Spencer Reid was cute at best, not exactly the type you got your best dress on for. 'To each their own' Lisa thought to herself as she smiled and handed Jack his pills.

Spencer signed into the facility and was told he could find his mother in the recreation room. He walked in and looked around; his mother was sitting at a table writing in her journal. Putting a smile on his face he walked over to her, waving to one of the nurses who was on her way out.

"Hi mom." He said when he was close enough for her to hear him.

"Spencer? You said you weren't coming until Wednesday." She said closing her journal.

"I wanted to surprise you." He told her.

"Well this is a wonderful surprise" Diana said leaning across the table and kissing her son on the cheek. "How long are you here for?"

"The whole week" he said, smiling as he saw his mother's own lips twitch into a smile.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it's time for your medicine Diana," one of the nurses interrupted. The nurse batted her eyelashes at Spencer before handing the small cup containing the pills to Diana. Spencer remembered this nurse, she was always overly friendly and managed to dress inappropriately even in a uniform. "It's nice to see you again Dr. Reid." She said smiling a little too widely.

"It's nice to see you too Ms. Hunt" Spencer said trying to be polite.

"Please, call me Emily." She told him smiling even wider.

"Where's Lisa?" Diana asked. She unlike her son didn't have patients for people she didn't like.

"She's on rounds." Emily told her, smile still in place.

"When she's done could you have her come here? I'd like for her to meet Spencer."

"Of course." Emily said, giving one more look to Spencer before taking Diana's hint and leaving.

"I don't like that girl" Diana said as she watched Emily leave. Spencer laughed at his mother's brashness.


	4. Cards Anyone?

"Diana wants to see you" Emily said entering one of the patient's rooms where Lisa was currently changing the bed sheets.

"Back so soon? I thought you'd be honeymooning in Tahiti by now" Lisa said as she gestured for Emily to help her put the new sheets on the bed.

"Give it time." Emily told her with a laugh. They finished cleaning the room and Emily took the cart from Lisa. "You go, I'll finish this up."

"You sure?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, just don't forget to put in a good word for me." Emily said with a wink as she pushed the cart down to the next room.

Lisa smiled and made her way back to the recreation room where she found Diana and Spencer playing a card game. Before she could go over to them though she was stopped by Rachel.

"Hey, so did you get to see Emily in action?" she asked.

Lisa laughed. " No I didn't, we switched rounds and meds so that she could talk to him. I was off changing sheets."

"Shame, it's always a good laugh."

"I'm sure." Lisa said smiling and heading off back to her final destination. "Hey Diana, Emily said you wanted to see me?" Lisa asked, waiting until the introductions had been made, to address Spencer.

"Lisa, Yes I wanted you to meet my son, Spencer. Spencer this is Lisa." Diana introduced him, putting her cards down and gesturing toward the skinny boy across from her. Spencer stood up and put his hand out for her to shake.

"It's nice to meet you Lisa, my mother's told me a lot about you." He said as they shook hands.

"It's nice to meet you too. Diana talks about you all the time." Lisa said smiling. Seeing Spencer Reid up close she could better understand Emily's attraction. Spencer had a soft face and a sweet smile.

"Lisa is probably the only person here with any real intelligence." Diana told her son.

"Come on now Diana, be nice. " Lisa admonished her, though her smile let on that enjoyed the praise.

Spencer analyzed Lisa as she spoke with his mother. He didn't mean to, but analyzing people was a hazard of his job. Her auburn hair was kept in a bun at the base of her neck and she stood ramrod straight and had a permanent smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"So, Spencer, I'm guessing you'll be staying in town for Diana's birthday." Lisa said bringing his attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Um, yes, yes I am." Spencer answered.

"That's nice." Lisa said. She clearly didn't know what else to say, and neither did Spencer, but his mother soon took care of that.

"Lisa, why don't you play a hand with us?" She asked.

"I really should be getting back to rounds." She said although Spencer couldn't tell exactly how true that was.

"Nonsense. I demand you play one hand with us." Lisa smiled at Diana and sat down.

"Alright one hand, what's the game?"

Diana gathered the cards and re-dealt them. "Gin Rummy." she told Lisa

"Ah, one of my favorites." Lisa commented as she picked up her cards. As they played Spencer could see why his mother liked this girl. She was happy, something that was unusual to see around the facility. Most of the doctors and nurses were stone faced, having seen too many patients go in and out, too many people who couldn't be helped, it was just like the faces he saw at work. Compared to that Lisa was a breath of fresh air.

As they played she made jokes, and though Diana didn't laugh she did smile every now and then, something Spencer wasn't used to seeing.

"So Spencer, Diana says that you work with the FBI," Although it was an innocent enough statement, it was said with a hint of disbelief.

"Yes. I do." He told her. She nodded but didn't look as though she believed him.

"Must be exciting." Lisa commented picking another card up.

"It has its moments I suppose." He said, as he picked up a card, finishing his hand. "Gin" he said throwing a smile to his mother.

"You think by now I'd know I can't win against him." Spencer felt his neck get hot. He had never liked his abilities being brought to light.

"Yeah, well win or lose it's always fun to play the game." Lisa said standing up and excusing herself. "It was nice to meet you Spencer." She said tilting her head towards him.

"You too." Spencer said, watching as she left.

"Isn't she great?" Diana asked, bringing her son's attention back to her.

"She's nice," he told her, "another game?"

"Sure." Spencer smiled at his mother as he dealt another hand of cards.


	5. Come On Out

Lisa left Diana and Spencer and went to go help Emily with rounds. When she caught up to Emily though, she was already done.

"You finished quick." She commented.

"Yeah, well I do have something to get back to." Emily responded with a grin.

"Could you please explain to me what it is you see in him?" Lisa asked, no longer able to keep her curiosity in check.

"Smart guys are my weakness and with 3 Doctorates and 3 BAs he's pretty much the sexiest thing I've ever met."

"3 Doctorates?" Lisa asked, ignoring the sexy comment.

"Yeah, you did know he's a certified genius right?" Emily asked as though it was common knowledge, which, around the facility, it was.

"No, I didn't" Lisa was shocked, it was no wonder that he had easily won the game they'd played.

"Yeah, he got scooped up by the FBI and now does some kind of profiling thing."

"Oh my God, are you serious?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, impressive right? Anyway I'm gonna grab a cup of coffee and then we'll head out yeah?"

Lisa checked her watch and saw that it was shift change. She nodded absently and then headed off to the locker rooms to change. She couldn't believe it. Spencer was actually an FBI agent who dealt with pyschos and killers on a daily basis. She rubbed her hand across her face. She couldn't believe that she thought it was all a lie. She was thankful she hadn't said anything about it. Sighing at her stupidity she quickly changed into her street clothes and waited outside for Emily and Rachel.

Emily was the first of the two out. She and Emily started talking. Lisa saw the door open and expected to see Rachel exiting the building, instead she saw the tall thin frame of Spencer Reid walking out and involuntairily spoke, "Oh no." she said hoping that he wouldn't see them, or if that he did he would simply walk past, she was still embarrassed about having thought he was lying to his mother. Instead her announcement of his presence had drawn Emily's attention.

"Dr. Reid!" Emily called out, causing the young man to look around. When he found who was calling his name, he gave a light wave, and would have continued walking if Emily hadn't intercepted him.

"You're leaving already?" Emily asked him.

"Uh, yes, visiting hours are ending soon, and my mother was feeling tired." He said addressing both of them, though Lisa tried to keep as much of his attention away from her as possible.

Spencer was confused. Lisa's behavior had changed drastically and it hadn't even been an hour since he last saw her. During their card game she had been boisterous and had attempted to include him in the conversation as much as possible. Now she was almost avoiding his eyes, almost as though she wanted either herself or him to disappear.

"We were just heading to dinner. You're welcome to join us." It was clear that Emily wanted him to come with them, but between how uncomfortable she made him feel and the strange behavior Lisa was showing, he thought it best to decline.

"Thank you for the offer but I'm actually pretty tired myself. Jet lag you know." He lied.

"Oh that's such a shame. Maybe some other time then." It was Lisa who had responded so quickly.

"Yeah maybe some other time."Spencer said before nodding and walking back to his hotel.

Back at his hotel Spencer found himself staring through the book in his hands. He couldn't stop thinking about the strange way Lisa's mood and attitude had changed so rapidly. He could normally make sense out of people's reactions, hell it was part of his job to be able to read people that way. Giving up on his book Spencer decided that getting some fresh air would be a good idea.

He had been walking for maybe an hour, just letting his restless mind wander when he ran, quite literally into someone else, who dropped whatever it had been in their hands. "I'm so sorry." Spencer began to stammer, as he bent down to help them pick up their things.

"Don't be it was my fault. I really need to learn that texting and walking don't mix." The figure said with a laugh.

Spencer grabbed the person's phone only seconds before they did. He noticed the hand was female, and as he looked up he recognized the face immediately. "Lisa?" he questioned, as they both stood.

He saw a moment of panic flash behind her eyes before she responded. "Spencer, I mean Dr. Reid."

"Uh Spencer's fine." He said handing her back her phone.

"Right. What are you doing out here?" Lisa asked.

"I was just taking a walk." He told her. It was odd seeing Lisa outside of the facility. Her hair was still in a bun at the base of her neck, but a few strands had now fallen out, and instead of the plain uniform that she had been wearing she was dressed in a pair of jeans and a printed top. He wasn't sure how he had missed that before. Pulling himself back to the present he asked her the same question. "And you? What are you doing out here?"

"I was just walking home." Lisa said rubbing her arm nervously.

"Oh"

"yeah, well I should keep going." Lisa said taking a step around Spencer.

"Yeah, I'll see you around." Spencer said as they awkwardly waved good bye to one another. Spencer didn't make it more than three steps before turning. "Lisa." He said loudly, causing her to stop and turn around.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Have I," he paused, unsure of whether or not to ask, "Have I offended you or something?" he asked.

"What?" Lisa replied, looking genuinely confused.

"It's just that your behavior around me changed fairly rapidly and that generally doesn't happen without some form of provocation." Spencer watched her face closely, and could have sworn she was amused.

"No, no, it's nothing you've done. I've just had a lot on my mind. I'm sorry if I've given you the wrong impression." She said walking towards him.

Spencer let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding in. "Oh, good." Spencer said. "It's just that my mother really seems to like you and I'd like for us to be on good terms."

He watched as Lisa's perfect posture fell a little as she cocked her hip to the side. "You really care about your mom don't you?" Lisa asked.

It seemed an odd question to Spencer but he answered it all the same. "Of course I do. She's my mother"

"Right, well, as long as that's true, you and I will be on great terms." Lisa smiled as she said it. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." Spencer said waving back at Lisa who was back on her path home.


	6. Don't Argue

In the morning Lisa and Rachel were scheduled to hand out medicine to the patients. As they grabbed their trays and walked to the recreation room they were deep in conversation. Not paying attention to where she was going Lisa suddenly found herself smacking into something solid. Thankfully the solid something steadied her tray keeping everything from falling over.

"Sorry, sorry" A panicked voice said.

"It's alright, no harm no foul." Lisa said looking up. 'of course it would be him' she thought as she saw that for the second time in less than 24 hours it was Spencer Reid that she had run into. "You know one of us is going to have to start looking where we're going." She joked, eliciting a smile and a small chuckle from him.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Lisa smiled up at him and then walked around him, going off to do her job.

"What was that about?" Rachel asked, Lisa as they handed out the pills together.

"What was what about?" Lisa asked.

"That whole thing with Dr. Reid, 'one of us is going to have to start looking where we're going'?" Lisa looked over and saw the expectant look on her face.

"It's nothing, I just ran into him on my way home last night, literally." She admitted.

"Uh huh," Rachel said skeptically. "And where exactly did you 'run into' him?"

"I don't know on the sidewalk. He was out for a walk or something" Looking over Lisa saw the look on Rachel's face. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." Rachel paused. "You know Emily will kill you if you steal her man."

Lisa laughed. "Well she doesn't have to worry about that. I tend not to go for guys in ties." She joked before walking off to finish handing out meds.

"Good morning Diana. Spencer." Lisa greeted them as she came over to give Diana her medicine. "Did you sleep well?" she asked after being greeted back.

"Very well. And you? I hope you had a good night as well."

"Yeah, my night was pretty good. It's a shame you couldn't come out with us last night Spencer," Lisa looked up at Diana's face and could immediately tell that Spencer hadn't told her about the invitation they had extended to him

"You were invited out last night Spencer?" Diana asked as Lisa began to wish she hadn't said anything.

"Yes, by Nurse Hunt" he said. Diana's facial expression quickly changed.

"Well that makes sense then." Feeling relieved Lisa started to back away to finish handing out her medicine but Diana stopped her in her tracks. "Are you all going out again tonight?" she asked Lisa.

"We'd planned to go out to dinner, yes." Lisa told her silently praying Diana wouldn't say what she was about to say.

"You should go with them tonight Spencer." Lisa's prayers had gone unheard.

"Oh, I'm sure Lisa and her friends don't need me tagging along.

"Nonsense!" Diana said smacking her hand on the table. "I'm sure they'd love to have you along, wouldn't you Lisa?"

"Not at all." Lisa said plastering a smile on her face.

"There it's settled. What time are you all leaving?" Diana asked.

Lisa saw that Spencer's face had gone bright red from his mother's actions and the fake smile she had put on shifted into a real one. Maybe having Spencer along wouldn't be too bad, after all it would be sort of fun to watch his reactions to Emily. "We leave at the end of our shift, around 6 o'clock."

"There it's settled." Diana announced.

Lisa finished handing out rest of the medicine and went to return her tray. On her way to begin her first set of rounds she ran into Emily. "Don't say I never do anything for you." She told her walking past and leaving the poor girl confused.

Spencer couldn't believe that even at 28 years old his mother was still making play dates for him. He couldn't remember a time where he was more embarrassed.

"Oh, stop sulking." His mother told him. "You're here for a whole week, and you should spend at least part of that time out having fun, and you're sure not going to get that in here."

"I'm having fun." he said gesturing to the game laid out in front of them.

"I worry about you Spencer. You should be spending time with people your own age." She told him. Spencer felt guilty for making her worry, so he said no more on the topic.

6 o'clock came far too quickly for Spencer. He found himself being shooed by his mother to go out and have fun. He really didn't want to go, but he didn't want to disappoint his mother, so he went outside and saw Lisa and Nurse Hunt standing with another nurse he'd seen around the building. Lisa saw him and waved him over.

"Spencer, you know Emily and Rachel?" Lisa asked.

"I know Emily but I don't think we've been introduced before" He said reaching out to shake Rachel's hand.

"It's nice to meet you Dr. Reid."

"Please call me Spencer." He told them turning to Lisa, "You know if you're having a girl's night I can really leave it's no problem."

"Oh no, it's not a girl's night, we're actually going to meet a few other friends, besides your mother would never speak to me again if I didn't get you out on the town."

"Okay then." Spencer said, cursing his luck at not being able to get out of this.

The 4 of them walked to a small restaurant down the road making small talk the whole way. When they got to the restaurant a couple of guys waved them over to a table. So they went over and sat down.

"Guys this is Dr. Spencer Reid, he's in town visiting family. Spencer this is Michael, and Tom. They both work down at the Bellagio." Rachel said making the introductions.

"Oh, so you're Dr. Reid." Michael said shaking Spencer's hand.

"We've heard a lot about you." Tom said before flinching and turning to glare at Lisa. Spencer looked to see why and saw her giving him a look that clearly told Tom to shut up. He wondered what that was all about but chose not to address it.

"So, Spencer, how long are you in town for?" Michael asked; easily avoiding Lisa's angry stared.

"I should be in town until Sunday." He answered.

"Should be?" Emily asked leaning towards him. Really Spencer didn't think he'd mind being there if it weren't for Emily, although he wasn't very good at meeting new people, Lisa was doing a pretty good job at making him feel somewhat comfortable. Unfortunately all the good she was doing was being thwarted by Emily, as she very obviously tried to get his attention to travel to her chest.

"As long as I don't get called in to work." He clarified.

"Don't tell me, another workaholic?" Tom asked.

"Uh, yeah I guess you could call me that. Although the average person will spend over 97,000 hours working throughout their lifetime," Spencer saw Tom's eyes light up and got a little nervous.

"Please tell me you're coming to trivia tonight." Tom said excitedly.

"Trivia?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah every Tuesday is Trivia at one of the local bars; Tom is determined to win at least once in his life." Lisa explained, as the waitress came around and took their orders.

"That's all I'll need to die a happy man."

"Well then, I'd be happy to help." Spencer told him.

The rest of dinner was pretty uneventful, Spencer was asked a variety of questions, the others talked about work, and before he knew it Spencer was sitting at in a booth at a bar between Lisa and Tom, playing a game of trivia. Not a single question had been difficult for Spencer to answer and Tom was practically worshipping Spencer's immense knowledge base, and wasn't the only one. With each question that Spencer answered Emily's behavior got stranger and stranger. Eventually she had excused herself to the bathroom.

"Alright contestants, last question, what is a nine letter word meaning full of broth or soup" Everyone looked to Spencer, but for once he didn't know. Spencer sat there stuttering.

"You've got 10 more seconds to write down your answers"

"Come on man, what is it?" Tom asked.

Spencer's eyes widened as he searched his brain, but he couldn't figure it out.

"Jussulent, j-u-s-s-u-l-e-n-t." Came from next to him. Quickly Tom wrote the word down as the quiz proctor came to get the group's answers.

"What was that?" Spencer asked, turning to Lisa who had answered the question.

"Jussulent, it means full of broth or soup, it was created sometime between 1656 and 1658."She answered calmly sipping on her drink with that permanent smile still cocked on her lips.

"Alright, we have a winner Team, Dr. StrangeLove" Tom began jumping up in down, as the rest of the table high fived and shouted for joy. Spencer was still staring at Lisa. It had been a long time since anyone had known something he didn't, and he was shocked.

Their prize was free drinks for the rest of the night, and although a few of their group took full advantage of the prize, Lisa, and Rachel left early on the basis that they had early morning shifts the next day, and Spencer excused himself with them claiming that he didn't drink much anyway.

The three walked in the same direction home, Rachel was the first to be dropped off leaving Spencer and Lisa to walk together until reaching either Spencer's hotel or Lisa's home. "So did you have a good time?" Lisa asked, making conversation.

"Yeah, I did, thanks for letting me come out with you." Spencer told her. "It was nice to do something a little different for a night."

"That was different?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, I uh don't get out much." Spencer admitted shoving his hands uncomfortably into his pockets.

"Well that's a shame." It was silent for a while, Lisa seemed to be thinking something over.

"How would you like to do something really different?" Lisa suddenly asked. Spencer didn't know how to answer. The question seemed somewhat sinister, but her face seemed genuine and kind so against everything his instincts were telling him he answered. "How different?"

Lisa laughed, "Nothing illegal or anything, just different."

Spencer hesitated again, "Okay, why not."

"Good, meet me at the corner of North McDaniel Street and Stanley Avenue at 7 tomorrow night." She told him before veering off onto a side street. "And don't tell anyone." She yelled back.

Spencer wasn't sure what he had just gotten himself into, but he hoped he wouldn't regret it.


	7. Sea and Salt

Lisa was really regretting letting Spencer come out with them the night before. Since the second she had stepped into the building Emily had not shut up about how amazing Spencer had been at trivia, how amazing he had looked in his usual button up shirt and tie. Lisa was about one more sentence away from smacking her. To save her sanity Lisa spent most of the day out of the recreation room, where Emily had all but set up camp, in order to spend as much time with Spencer as she could.

Lisa had had fun with Spencer the night before, it had taken him until they got to the bar to loosen up, but when he did he was actually kind of fun. And she had been right, watching him squirm under Emily's lusty glances had been hilarious. She was really looking forward to seeing how he'd react to what she had in store for him tonight.

Spencer felt like an idiot, standing on the corner waiting for Lisa to show up. It was 10 after 7 and she hadn't shown up. He should have figured that she wouldn't. He hadn't seen her when he went to visit his mom that day. His mother noticed her absence and asked him if he knew anything about it. Later Emily had informed them that she was there, somewhere.

He had just decided on waiting five more minutes when a car began to slow down coming toward him. "How much?"

Spencer looked up at the driver, beyond shocked, only to see Lisa's laughing face.

"Hop in." Lisa told him. "Sorry I'm late couldn't find my shoes."

"No problem," Spencer told her climbing into the passenger side of the car. He expected her to continue driving but she stayed still. Looking over he saw her staring quizzically at him. "What?" he asked.

"Take off the tie." She told him.

"Why?" he looked at his tie. It seemed fine to him.

"You are not allowed to wear a tie tonight. Tonight is supposed to be different remember?" Spencer supposed she was right and began to loosen his tie. "Plus it kind of makes you look like a nerd." she finished, still smiling. Spencer shot her a glare but took off his tie anyway.

"So where are we going?" he asked when they had started moving.

"It's a surprise." She told him.

"I'm not a big fan of surprises" he muttered.

"Well then tonight is really going to suck for you."

"Are you actually enjoying my discomfort?" he asked.

Lisa shrugged, "maybe."

When they got onto the highway Spencer started to get nervous. He knew better than to get in a car with someone he didn't know, and with his luck, the team would be down here investigating his murder in a few days. "Will you stop looking so nervous?" Lisa said as though reading his mind. "It's not like I'm going to chop you up into little pieces or anything."

"Yeah well I'd feel better about that if I knew where we were going." He told her.

Lisa laughed, "nope you're not getting the location out of me that easily."

They drove for a little while longer, with nothing but the sound of pop music playing on the radio. With each mile Spencer got more and more nervous as the sun began to set. It was a small relief when the car slowed to a stop and Lisa announced their arrival. Spencer reached for the door handle but Lisa stopped him. "Hold on, we have a few things to go over."

"Excuse me?" Spencer asked.

"The event we're going to is a very private event. You will see things that even you won't believe, things that may shock you." Spencer was now beyond nervous; he knew this was a bad idea. He was smarter than this. Just before he began to panic he heard laughter. Looking up he saw Lisa was laughing. When she noticed his staring she calmed herself and began to speak. "Calm down genius boy, I'm joking. We're just going to a bonfire." Opening the door Lisa reached over and grabbed Spencer's tie from where he had placed it on the dash board.

Spencer exited the car. "A bonfire? That's what I couldn't tell anyone about?" he asked as he confusedly took his tie and wrapped it around her waist like a belt.

"Yup."

"Why?"

"I just didn't want Emily finding out. She's a sweet girl but she's never any fun at these things. Besides she makes you nervous." Lisa said as she started walking away from the car, toward a light on the beach that Spencer had somehow failed to notice.

"Wait so where are we?" he asked.

"Las Vegas Bay" she told him.

As they approached the fire Spencer could hear music playing and laughter. As he started to be able to make out the figures, he saw everyone was dressed in shorts and beachy clothes. For a second he was upset that Lisa hadn't told him that they were going to the beach so that he could dress more appropriately, but he quickly realized that it wouldn't have mattered anyway. He was at least thankful she had made him take off the tie.

"Lisa!" a guy yelled before running over, by passing Spencer and picking Lisa up. Lisa squealed as he spun her around. When he put her down Lisa introduced them.

"Ben, this is Spencer, Spencer this is Ben."

"Hey man." Ben said giving Spencer a tight hand shake. "You Lisa's new man?" he asked, taking a drink from the cup in his hand.

Lisa rolled eyes, "Spencer's just a friend." Lisa told him.

Ben just shrugged, "Oh well, on day you'll snag someone." He addressed his comment to Lisa. "Come on Spence, let me grab you a drink." Ben threw his arm around Spencer and led him over to the fire.

"Uh thanks," Was all Spencer could manage to say.


	8. This Is War

Lisa watched on as Ben went around introducing Spencer to everyone he could find. Spencer was clearly uncomfortable, and looked as though he could dig a hole in the sand crawl into it and disappear at any moment. Lisa was so content at watching Spencer's discomfort she had completely missed everything that her friend Lauren had said, and was only brought back to reality when Lauren was snapping in her face.

"Earth to Lisa" Lauren was saying.

"What?" Lisa asked as she snapped out of it.

"Where did you go?" Lauren asked.

"Sorry I'm just trying to keep an eye on Spencer, you know make sure Ben doesn't mentally scar him or anything." Lisa only half lied.

"Yeah sure" Lauren knew better than to believe it but she didn't say anything more. "So where'd you find that one?"

"His mom is a friend of mine." Lauren nodded, "He's kind of cute."

"He's not bad."

When Ben brought Spencer back over, after having introduced him to everyone there, Spencer seemed much more comfortable. "Hey having fun?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, I am. Your friends are all really nice." Spencer said.

"Yeah I think I'll keep them." Lisa joked. The four of them were talking and laughing and joking around until Ben decided to drop a bombshell.

"I was just telling Spencer about how you're going to put on a show tonight." Ben said.

Lisa nearly choked on her drink. "Excuse me?"

Spencer had a big smile on his face, probably excited to watch Lisa squirm for a change. Before anyone could explain exactly what Ben had meant, the music that had been blaring from a radio stopped and another one of Lisa's friends was up on a folding chair asking for everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone, as per tradition it is time for our dear friend Peter to play our theme song. So pay attention you drunk bastards!" he got down from the chair which was quickly filled by Peter. There was laughter and cat calling as everyone seemed to gather around peter.

"You all have a theme song?" Spencer asked as he followed Lisa and her friends into the circle.

"Don't ask." Lisa told him.

When the circle was pretty much formed Peter began to play.

Spencer was curious, he'd never met a group of people with their own theme song before, but then again he'd never met a group of people like this before. They were all incredibly friendly, and made him feel welcome immediately. Spencer wasn't sure if it was the drink catching up with him or just the atmosphere of the bonfire, but he felt comfortable here with these people, he had even taken off his shoes, leaving him walking barefoot in the sand. He had been unsure about Lisa when he met her, he hadn't been sure what to think of her, but the more they talked the more he liked her. She had a strange effect on him, she relaxed him. Here with her and her friends, he felt peaceful and happy, something that he rarely had the chance to feel for long in his normal life.

As Peter began to play another one of Lisa's friends, who had been introduced as Jake, entered the middle of the circle and began to sing. "I was walking down the street when out the corner of my eye I saw this pretty little thing approaching me" Jake began walking toward where Spencer was standing. "She said I've never seen a man who looked so all alone oh could you use a little company." Spencer watched as Jake took a blushing Lisa's hand and pulled her into the middle of the circle. Spencer laughed hard as he saw Lisa looking flustered for the first time as Jake began to spin her around as the two of them danced in the sand and Jake sang out loud. When Jake got to what must have been the chorus of the song everyone around Spencer began singing along. It didn't take much longer for others to start dancing too. Just wanting to watch everyone as they danced Spencer began to back out of the crowd. He was stopped though by a hand on his arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lisa asked.

"I don't dance." He told her.

"Too bad."

He tried to protest but Lisa simply told him to shut up and pulled him towards her. Spencer tried his best to move with the music but Lisa's laughing let him know that his best wasn't any good. He was thankful when Peter finished playing and the radio was put back on, it meant he didn't have to dance anymore, or so he thought.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lisa asked him again.

"Away" Spencer almost asked.

"No, no, we're fixing that mess that you call dancing." Spencer tried to resist but Lisa wasn't having it. She pulled him back to her, put his hands on her hips, and doing the same to him. Spencer felt like an idiot as Lisa manipulated his hips trying to help him dance.

"Loosen up." She told him.

"I can't when I feel like an idiot" he admitted to her.

"Spencer you are by far the smartest person here." she said.

"That's not what I mean." He said dropping his arms and taking a step back.

"Not being able to dance is nothing to feel stupid about, most white boys can't" Spencer raised his eyebrow as he looked at her. Lisa just sat there smiling. "Just relax, loosen up, have fun!" she said emphatically.

Spencer took a deep breath, "I'll try." He told her.

"Good, now get over here." Lisa told him, grabbing his arm and forcing him to dance again.

Spencer's dancing didn't get any better but as he relaxed, it didn't seem to matter anymore. A bunch of Lisa's friends eventually came over and began dancing with them. As they came over Spencer realized quickly that he wasn't the worst dancer there. Spencer needed a quick break and walked over to get a drink. On his way over he noticed a buzzing coming from his pocket. Pulling out his cellphone he saw Derek Morgan flash across the screen. Spencer quickly answered.

"Morgan, what's up?" he asked, his new relaxed attitude leaving him.

"Hey Reid, nothings up, just wanted to check up on you."

Spencer relaxed at Morgan's words. "I'm fine" Spencer told him.

Morgan was quiet for a second, "Is that hip hop I hear in the background?" he asked.

Spencer went to answer but before he could he heard Lisa talking to him, "Is that work?" she asked popping up behind him.

"No, just a friend." Spencer told her.

"Your friend a hip hop singer?" Morgan answered him.

"What no, hold on a sec." Spencer told him taking the phone away from his ear for a minute.

"It's just a friend checking up on me." Spencer said to Lisa.

"Oh, let me talk to them!" Lisa said lighting up like a child at Christmas.

"I don't think so" Spencer said turning his attention back to the phone.

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"Oh who are you my mother?" Spencer chose not to respond and went back to his phone.

"Sorry about that." He said.

"Is that one of those fancy government phone's that's all waterproof and stuff?" Lisa asked.

Spencer quickly answered that yes it was and turned back to talking to Derek, but before he could his phone was ripped from his hand and Lisa was running off toward the water. Spencer quickly sped off after her. He could just hear her as she breathlessly yelled into his phone.

"I'm sorry Dr. Spencer Reid can't come to the phone right now, he's busy trying to… SHIT!" she yelled the last word as Spencer grabbed her around the middle and they both fell face first into the water. When they surfaced both Spencer and Lisa gasped for air. They stood up in knee height water, Lisa's face was shocked. "I can't believe you did that!" She said sounding more impressed than angry.

"Where's my phone?" Spencer asked ignoring her, and searching the water.

"Here it is." Lisa said, still holding Spencer's phone in her hands. Spencer grabbed his phone and stuck it is his soaking wet pocket.

Spencer began to head out of the water, when he heard Lisa laughing. He turned around, "What are you laughing at?" he asked.

"The last thing the person on the other end heard was Spencer Reid is trying shit!" she laughed harder as she finished the sentence.

Spencer threw his head back and groaned. Running his hands down his face he started to move again. He hadn't taken more than two steps when he was hit by a wave of water. Turning around he saw Lisa standing with her hand on her hip. "What was that for?"

"Um tackling me maybe?" she said a half amused look on her face.

"Yeah well, you took my phone."

"You wouldn't let me talk to your friend" Lisa followed back.

Unable to think of a comeback, and already feeling childish for even having the conversation Spencer did the first thing he could think of. He splashed her.

"Oh this is war." Lisa said, laughing as she charged at Spencer knocking him down. The two splashed around in the shallow water, laughing and screaming, drawing the attention of the others. It didn't take long for Ben to incite the others and soon there was a free for all of wrestling and mud balls.


	9. Truth or Dare

Spencer and Lisa sat laughing by the fire trying to dry off after their epic battle. One of Lisa's friends had gotten some blankets from her car and Lisa and Spencer were sharing one.

"I still can't believe you tackled me." Lisa laughed,

"Well you, took my phone and ran, it's kind of an instinct to tackle someone who does that." Spencer laughed back.

"I wouldn't have done it if you'd just let me talk to your friend." Lisa said nudging him.

"Hey you guys smile." Rachel had been running around taking pictures all night and with everyone looking like dirty drowned rats she was in danger of running out of room on her memory card. Spencer and Lisa put their arms around each other and smiled widely.

"You know I think one of those mud balls had a rock in it" Spencer said rubbing at a sore spot on his neck.

"Poor baby" Lisa said with fake concern. Spencer nudged Lisa, who laughed at him. "Want me to kiss it better?" Lisa joked

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." Spencer said.

"Why Spencer Reid, did you just make a joke?" She asked, feigning shock.

"Yeah, don't get used to it." Spencer said smiling.

"Hey you wanna take a walk?" Lisa asked standing up, dropping the blanket.

"Sure" Spencer said without hesitation. He wrapped the blanket around himself and the two started walking off away from the others.

"So explain to me again why you wouldn't let me talk to your friend?" Lisa said trying to be discreet.

"Why do you want to know so badly?" Spencer asked.

"Mostly because you won't tell me" Lisa answered honestly.

"Well then I really shouldn't tell you,"

"Hey!" Spencer laughed at the outburst. "What if I promise to answer any question you want to ask. Then will you tell me?" she pleaded batting her eyelashes.

"How do I know you're going to tell the truth?" He asked.

"I'll be honest as long as you are." she said looking hopeful.

Spencer rolled his eyes, "Okay, I didn't want you talking to Morgan because he's like a bigger brother in that he likes to tease me about everything, especially girls, and I didn't really want to deal with it tonight." He answered honestly.

"See now was that so hard?" Lisa answered him. " Now, go ahead ask your question."

"Why do you always smile?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" Lisa didn't understand.

"You are constantly smiling, even when your face is cleared of any expression, you're still smiling." Spencer told her. "I don't get it."

"I didn't know." She said.

"I thought you were going to be honest." Spencer said.

"I am being honest. I seriously didn't know I smiled that often. I mean I'm happy a lot, but I guess I'm happier than I realized." Lisa said. Spencer searched her face and for all he could tell, she was telling the truth.

"Well that's highly unsatisfying." Spencer said.

"Not my fault you wasted your question." Lisa told him, "but, you can get another one, if you're willing to answer one." Spencer didn't hesitate before agreeing. "Alright, "What's the craziest thing you've ever done?"

"Oh come on, what are we in high school?" Spencer asked.

"Hey, it's my question and that's what I want to know." Lisa said with an air of authority.

"Okay, I was, 16 and in college, studying chemistry."

"Hold on, 16 and in college?" Lisa asked.

"You get one question." Spencer reminded her. "anyway, I had this professor who was a huge jerk, I hated him, but I was working under him on a research paper, so I didn't say much, but one he was being extra awful, I don't remember exactly what he did, but it pissed me off, so I took some vinegar and baking soda, set up this little contraption in his office, so when he got to his office later he opened the door and he was hit in the face with a massive explosion of the stuff."

"Really? You volcanoed your teacher?" Lisa asked.

"The guy was a jerk." Spencer said.

Lisa laughed, "You are one strange kid Spencer Reid."

"Yeah well, it's your turn. Why were so weird the day we met?" Spencer asked. "And remember you have to be honest."

"Hey would you look at that shell over there" Lisa said walking quickly away from Spencer.

"Lisa!" Spencer admonished stopping her in her tracks.

"Can't you ask any other question." She asked as she turned around.

"No way, I'm interested now." Spencer told her.

Lisa sighed, "Okay, honestly, when I met Diana, I almost couldn't figure out why she was in the hospital. I knew she was Schizophrenic, but she seemed so high functioning. Then she started to tell me about her son, who fought bad guys, and saved people, and I just figured it was part of her illness. I'd never heard of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, so it never even occurred to me that she might be telling the truth. So when I first met you I thought you were just telling your mom stories to make her happy. Emily informed me that I was wrong, that the stories in those letters were true, and I felt like an idiot. I got a little anxious around you."

"You thought I was lying to my mom?" Spencer asked.

"Yes but in my defense they are pretty unreal stories." Lisa said gauging Spencer's reaction. He just seemed shocked.

"I guess that's true, if I hadn't lived through some of them they'd just seem like horror stories." Spencer said.

"Not horror stories, hero stories, after all the good guys win most of the time." Lisa said. Spencer just nodded. "So, my turn to ask a question?" Lisa said, not liking the way Spencer's face was changing.

"What?" Spencer asked.

"I asked a question, you asked a question, now it's my turn again right?" Lisa asked.

"I thought we were done with questions." Spencer said.

"I've still got things I want to know about you." Lisa admitted. "Are you done finding out about me?"

Spencer looked at Lisa as though she had sprouted another head before answering, "go ahead, ask your question."

"Do you prefer smooth or chunky peanut butter?"

Spencer smiled and chuckled, "Chunky."

"Really? I had you pegged as a smooth guy."

"Nope, chunky. What's your favorite color?"

"Orange. Favorite ice cream?"

"Cherry Garcia…" Spencer and Lisa continued their simple line of questioning for long time. They were still asking each other questions as they returned to the bonfire, and when they began the drive back. Lisa was parked in front of Spencer's hotel neither making a move to exit the car, still wrapped up in their game.

"size 7 ½ . Eye sight." Lisa asked.

"20/24 and 20/40. Favorite toe."

Lisa laughed, "I'd have to say my left pinky toe, it's just so much cuter than the right one." Spencer laughed along with her.

"Okay, serious question time," Lisa said straightening herself in her seat. "What is your absolute favorite feeling in the world?"

"My favorite feeling?" Spencer questioned.

"Yeah, like the feeling you get flying or falling in love, something like that." Lisa clarified.

"Oh, heavy, I guess it would be, when we find someone, and they get to see their families again, the feeling I get seeing the relief and happiness on their faces, because of what we do. It's probably the best feeling in the world, it's what keeps me going." Lisa was listening intently. "How about you? What's your favorite feeling?" Spencer expected her to say something along the same lines, something about the feeling she got helping others, but he was wrong.

"Mine's not nearly as noble as yours. My favorite feeling, is the feeling you get, just before your first kiss with someone, anyone."

Spencer was intrigued. "Why?" he asked.

"Well you know how right before you're about to kiss someone, right when you know it's about to happen, you get completely nervous and terrified and excited and your mind races you heart beats faster, palms sweat. It's like a complete high, and the best part is, you can only ever get it once with someone, because once you've kissed, everything that makes it exciting and terrifying is gone."

"See normally I just hope that feeling ends." Spencer joked.

Lisa laughed, "well the end result of the feeling is generally pretty good too."

"Yeah." At that point Spencer realized that during her speech he had begun to lean in. Leaning back Spencer cleared his throat. "I had better go, big day tomorrow."

Lisa didn't seem to notice anything odd about Spencer's behavior, "Yeah, Diana's birthday. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah I'll see you then, good night." Spencer said as he opened the door and got out of the car.

"'Night Spencer," Lisa called back to him as she started her car and left the parking lot.

Shaking his head Spencer walked back to his room, still rubbing the sore spot on his neck.


	10. Sure It Is

The next morning Spencer got up and went to see his mother as usual. He walked up the stairs to the recreation room and caught sight of Lisa out of the corner of his eye.

"Lisa." He called. Lisa stopped and turned looking for who had called her name. Spotting Spencer she smiled and, walked towards him.

"Hi, Spencer, do you need something?" She greeted him

"Hey, no, I just wanted to thank you for bringing me to the bonfire last night. I had really great time."

"Don't mention it. I had a great time too. You know I actually got a text from Ben too, he wanted to know when you guys were going to hang out again. He can't wait for another water brawl"

Spencer laughed. "Yeah, I don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon, I'm pretty sure I'm covered in bruises."

"Yeah you are." Lisa said reaching out, "You've got a pretty nice one right here in fact." She brushed across some of the skin at the bottom of his neck and a tiny spark of pain flashed through Spencer's body and he flinched a bit. "Sorry." Lisa apologized.

"Don't worry about it."

"You know you should probably cover that before you see your mom. It kind of looks like a hickey."

Spencer's hand immediately shot to his neck to cover the bruise. "Oh Thanks."

"No problem. I'll be in to see your mom in a bit."

"I'll see you then."

Spencer walked off into the bathroom to cover his awkward bruise and Lisa headed back out to finish her rounds.

"Okay a coupled things, one, when were you going to tell me, two, how did you do it, and three, how did you do it so fast?" Emily asked, stopping Lisa in her tracks for a second time that morning.

"I will be happy to answer all of those questions when you tell me what you're talking about." Lisa responded.

"You and Dr. Reid, excuse me you and Spencer." Emily clarified.

"Riiight, what about us?" Lisa had no idea what Emily was talking about but she was sure that she wasn't going to like it.

"Oh come on! Quit playing dumb. You and Dr. Reid, I saw you caressing his neck." Emily finally spit out.

If Lisa had been drinking something, she would have done a spit take. "I was not caressing his neck. I was pointing out a bruise." Lisa explained.

"Oh right, pointing out the bruise, on his neck, I believe the medical term for that is a hickey, right?"

"It's not a hickey!" Lisa protested.

"Right then where did it come from?" Emily asked a clear look of disbelief on her face.

"He got hit in the neck with a rock" even as she said it Lisa knew it sounded like a lie.

"Right. You do know I won't get mad right? Yes the guy is gorgeous, and I would more than love to have him as a notch on my bed post, but if you're seeing him I will completely back off, I mean it's not like I actually had a shot any way." Emily tried to reassure her.

"That's great, but seriously Emily, there's nothing going on." Lisa tried to tell her one last time.

"When you're ready to admit it I'll be here." Emily said patting Lisa on the shoulder before walking off. Lisa closed her eyes and groaned, before going back to her job.

Spencer adjusted his collar so that it covered as much of the bruise as possible before heading out to see his mother.

"Happy Birthday mom." Spencer said giving his mom a kiss on the cheek and handing her the present he had brought for her.

"You didn't have to get me anything. I've already got my gift." Diana told him stroking his cheek.

Spencer blushed as he sat down next to her.

Diana looked at her son for a moment before speaking, "There's something different about you Spencer." She said.

Spencer's hand unconsciously shot up to his neck, trying to hide the bruise. "What do you mean?" he asked trying not to sound guilty.

"You're smiling." Diana said, a smile of her own forming.

Spencer chuckled and let his hand fall back down. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"It's a good look for you." His mother told him before finally opening the gift he had gotten her. It was a rare 1st edition of her favorite book. "Thank you"

The rest of the day with his mother had been pretty much the same as always except for the small cake Lisa had brought in for Diana. When visiting hours were over Spencer had gone back to his hotel. He had hoped to run into Lisa on his way out but when he had she had informed him that she was working the nightshift as well that day. He had been a little upset at the news, though he had no reason to be, it wasn't as though they had had plans. So Spencer had simply gone back to his hotel room and tried to read.

Unfortunately after the fun and excitement of the night before, sitting and reading a book on theoretical physics just didn't seem so appealing. He tried watching television instead, but he had never been a big fan of that pastime. So realizing, seemingly for the first time, that he was in Las Vegas Spencer decided to do what most people do in Vegas. He went out to a casino.

It was late and all the patients were sleeping as Lisa sat in the break room with a book in her lap. To the passerby it looked as though she was engrossed in the novel, but in reality she was simply staring through it, flipping pages at random intervals. She couldn't keep her mind from wandering back to Spencer Reid. Emily had really gotten under her skin with her comments about the two of them. Spencer Reid was awkward, gawky, wound way too tight, kind, thoughtful and completely surprising.

Glancing at the clock Lisa saw that she had another 5 hours left on duty, 5 more quiet hours in a silent sanitarium unable to keep her thoughts in check. Out of the corner of her eye Lisa saw the phone, and next to it, a binder containing all the emergency contacts for the patients. Putting down her book Lisa stared at the binder. Whenever she had a song stuck in her head all she had to do was listen to it again and it was gone, maybe it would work the same way with Spencer. She got up from her spot on the couch and walked over to the binder, opening it to Diana Reid's page. There it was spelled out in black and white, Spencer Reid's cellphone number. No, it was stupid, it was nearly midnight, he was probably asleep already, and even if he wasn't it was against the rules to use the patients' information for personal reasons. Quickly Lisa closed the binder and went back to the couch lifting her book back up, leg bouncing nervously.


	11. Why not

Spencer was walking back from the casino a few hundred dollars richer when his cellphone went off. He was still surprised that it worked after how long it had spent in the water. Assuming that it was probably Morgan checking up on him again he didn't bother to look at the caller id before picking it up.

"Hello." He answered.

"Uh, hi" The voice on the other end was not Morgan's.

"Who is this?" Spencer asked.

"OH, right sorry, um it's Lisa." Spencer stopped in his tracks.

"Lisa, hi" Remembering that she was on duty he wondered if the call had anything to do with his mother. "Is there something wrong with my mom?" he asked.

"What? Oh no, no she's fine."

"Oh good. Then, why the call?" He had begun walking again.

Lisa's end was silent for a while before answering "I actually don't know"

"You don't know?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was sitting alone on duty and I got bored and I thought I'd call you, and that's as far as I got."

"Oh, okay." Spencer said, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah." They sat on the phone in silence for a minute. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have called. You're probably trying to go to sleep or something"

"No, no I'm wide awake. I just don't exactly know what to say."

"Me either, it's just so quiet here, it's kind of unnerving."

"I've always found silence to be comforting." Spencer found himself admitting.

"Not me I always have music playing, or the t.v. on, just for background noise. Unfortunately I left my ipod at home like an idiot."

"Did you know that Leon Scott first recorded sound on a piece of paper using nothing but candle wax back in 1857." Spencer said, not being able to find anything else to say.

"Wait seriously?" Lisa asked sounding impressed.

"Yeah, he called it a photosutograph."

"That's so cool."

Spencer smiled, although Lisa couldn't see it. Suddenly he remembered something that had been bugging him for a while. "Hey, how did you know that word the other night?" he asked.

"What word?"

"Jussulent, even I didn't know that word." Spencer admitted.

"Oh that word. I like words, especially really obscure ones."

"Really?" Spencer asked, opening the door to his hotel room and sitting down in a chair.

"Yeah, my favorite is Squiriferous." Lisa said.

"What does that mean?" Spencer asked, shocked to find another word he didn't know.

"It means having the characteristic or qualities of a squire."

"Is that why you like it?" Spencer asked.

"No I just like the way it sounds, Squiriferous, come on say it, you know you want to." Spencer could hear the laughter in Lisa's voice.

He smiled and said it, "Squiriferous," he laughed, it really did feel funny to say that word. That was all it took to open up the flood gates. Lisa and Spencer started talking and didn't stop, until the sun came up, and only then because Lisa had to leave the hospital as her shift had ended. Just before they hung up they made plans to meet up that night for dinner, and this time it was Spencer who had asked.


	12. Almost

The next day Spencer didn't get to the hospital to visit his mother until the afternoon, having spent the morning catching up on the sleep he had lost staying up all night. His mother commented again on how happy he seemed, and he couldn't help but notice she seemed happier too.

He had known better than to expect Lisa to walk in, he knew she wasn't on duty that day, but still each time a nurse walked into the room he looked up. Even Diana could tell that he was distracted. When visiting hours were finished Spencer made a quick stop at his hotel room to change his clothes before heading out to meet Lisa.

When Spencer arrived at the restaurant they had chosen, he immediately saw Lisa standing outside texting someone or other on her phone. Lisa was wearing a short, sleeveless dress and her hair for once was down, pieces of it falling in front of her face. Though Spencer hadn't meant for his invitation to dinner to be a date, at that moment, he dearly hoped that Lisa had accidentally taken it as one.

Spencer cleared his throat and tried to calm himself as moved towards her. It became a lot harder to stay calm when she looked up saw him and smiled widely.

"Hey, Spencer" She greeted him walking confidently up to him.

"Hi, you look nice" he told her, trying to seem as calm as she was.

"Thanks, it's a lot easier to do when you've got a day off. So you hungry?" Spencer nodded and they walked in to the restaurant to eat.

Lisa hadn't gone to bed after getting off the phone with Spencer. She stayed up, still unable to get him out of her head, apparently it wasn't as easy as removing a song. It took her hours of wrestling with the idea to finally admit that she had somehow managed to get a crush on Spencer Reid. When she finally accepted it she had managed to sleep. She had thought about cancelling the plans she had made with him, knowing that he hadn't meant to ask her on a date, but had rationalized that because he was leaving two days later it didn't matter either way. She could continue to hang out with him, even with her crush, because in two days he would be gone and in four she would have moved on.

So she got ready, putting only a little more effort than usual into her appearance, and went to go meet him. She had secretly enjoyed when he had complimented her on how she looked, although she tried to brush it off.

She was nervous all throughout dinner and had compensated by ordering one or two drinks more than she probably should have. Luckily she noticed that Spencer was seemingly making the same mistake. By the end of dinner both she and Spencer were feeling a little happier than normal, and after dinner decided to go have a little fun. Catching a cab they made their way down to the strip.

"See this isn't fair, my mental capacity is diminished due to the consumption of alcohol." Spencer protested as he lost another hand at black jack.

"Yet, you still manage to say shit like that." Lisa said, sipping on another drink.

Spencer half-heartedly glared at Lisa. "Well what would you say?"

"Fuck I lost my money, goddamn casino." Lisa told him.

Spencer raised an eyebrow "you know you curse a lot when you're drunk."

Smiling, Lisa raised her glass "Damn straight I do!"

They both laughed and played a few more hands before going back out onto the street. It had gotten dark and all the tourists were out, laughing, and drinking, and generally forgetting their problems. A couple, clearly having just met and been married by Elivs, nearly ran into Lisa and Spencer as they refused to look where they were going, too engrossed in sucking the lives out of each other via their mouths.

"How do people do that?" Spencer said completely confounded.

"Do what?" Lisa asked having not been paying attention.

"Get married to someone they don't even know."

"It's called romance" Lisa informed him.

"How is that romantic?"

"Oh come on, you're sitting at a bar, all of a sudden you look across the room lock eyes with someone, and you both immediately know you want to spend the rest of your lives together. How is that not romantic?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah then you wake up in the morning, hung over, with some stranger who now can legally take half of your stuff." Spencer, always the voice of reality, said.

"You must be the least romantic person in the world." Lisa laughed, knowing she should have expected nothing less from him.

Growing tired of the rowdy tourists Lisa and Spencer hailed a cab. They had the cab drop them off at Lisa's house, but neither were ready to go home just yet. Afraid of what she might try if she were to invite Spencer inside her home, Lisa suggested they go to the nearby park.

"You know you were wrong about me." Spencer said suddenly as they were walking through the park, listening to some teen trying to impress his girlfriend by playing Wonder Wall, on his guitar.

"Was I?" Lisa asked, not entirely sure what he was referring to.

"Yes, because" he said stopping and taking Lisa's hand in his, "I happen to be very romantic."

Spencer wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, but if it failed he had the excuse of being drunk to fall back on. Lisa looked up at him confused, as he lifted her other hand and placed it on his shoulder and began to move them both to the music.

Lisa, was fairly certain that she had fallen asleep in the cab and was currently dreaming. Nothing about this moment made sense. Although Spencer had been awful dancing to the music they had played at the bonfire, at this slowed down pace, swaying back and forth, he wasn't half bad.

The combination of the acoustic guitar playing, the closeness of their bodies, and the lingering buzz from one too many cocktails did nothing good for her as Lisa danced with Spencer under the stars. Before she knew what was happening, her stomach was tying in knots, her palms were beginning to sweat and every part of body began to tingle as Spencer moved in closer, his lips mere inches from her own. Her eyes darted back and forth from his eyes to his lips, before she slip her eyes closed, anticipating a soft pressure against her lips at any moment.

They had stopped moving, but that expected pressure hadn't come. Opening her eyes again, she was momentarily offended when she saw Spencer smiling at her.

"You're right, it is an amazing feeling." He said still holding one of her hands as he began walking again.

She should have been upset, but she couldn't find it in her to be so. He had done it on purpose, to give her that feeling.

As their buzzes began to disappeared they were replaced with tiredness. When Lisa began to yawn Spencer insisted on walking her home, and she happily agreed. They stood on her small porch saying good night.

"I had a great time tonight Spencer." Lisa told him, smiling up at him.

"Yeah, I did too."

They stood still for a moment as Lisa fiddled with her keys nervously. Spencer put his hand on hers to stop the fidgeting, and Lisa stilled instantly. Once again she found him getting closer to her, and that tingle, and those knots came rushing back. She had never gotten this feeling twice with anyone before, it had never been possible because everyone had always followed through, and kissed her, but Spencer wasn't everyone.

"Good night." Spencer whispered, his face so close to hers that she felt his breath across her lips.

Her eyes still half lidded, "Good night" Lisa said back, and then watched Spencer Reid walk off in the direction of his hotel.

Lisa took a deep breath and tried to get her heart rate to slow back down, before opening her door and going to bed.


	13. Bye

Walking back to his hotel room with his head still reeling from the high he felt from almost kissing Lisa Spencer couldn't help but think that the stars looked brighter. Stopping on a bench, Spencer decided to stop and admire them for a while. He got to revel in the euphoria he felt for only a few moments before his phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw Morgan's name flash on the caller id. Still high on happiness he answered it.

"Hey, Morgan. "

"Reid, man, we need you back here." Morgan's voice came through the phone.

Suddenly reality came crashing back down around him, "Now?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah, we need you next flight out, it's bad."

Spencer sighed, "Yeah, okay I'll just get my stuff and I'll be on the next flight."

"Good. See you when you get here."

"Yeah," Spencer said before hanging up. Leaning his head back Spencer took one last look at the stars before going back to pack his things.

Before heading out to the airport Spencer made a quick stop at his mother's facility. He knocked on the door, and thankfully one of the nurses he knew as Rachel, was there to open it.

"Spencer, I'm sorry but we're closed for the night." She told him.

"I know, I just wanted to leave this." He said handing her an envelope. "I got called back to Quanico."

"Oh okay." Spencer turned to leave, "Spencer hold on one minute," She told him before running into the building for a second.

"Here." She said handing him a piece of paper.

"I just got them developed today. I hope you have good flight." She said before closing the door.

Spencer got back into his cab before looking at the piece of paper. It was the picture she had taken of him and Lisa, soaking wet on the beach by the fire. He smiled to himself as he saw how utterly ridiculous they both looked.

Lisa took extra care getting ready the next morning. She had woken up smiling widely and whistled the entire way to work. As she put her things away she was still whistleing.

"Morning Rachel" she said.

"You mean good night don't you?" Rachel said, clearly tired.

"Gotta love night shift." Lisa smiled.

"Yeah, right." Rachel said as she took off her uniform. As she went to put the uniform in her locker something fell out of the pocket.

"Oh" she said as she picked it up. "I forgot, Lisa, this is for you." She handed Lisa the opened envelope.

"You reading my mail?" Lisa jokingly asked.

"No there were two letters in it, one for you and one for Diana."

Lisa shot Rachel a questioning look, but sat down to read it anyway.

"Lisa,

I'm pretty sure this week has been the best of my life. I've never met anyone like you before. I left you last night, with every intention of seeing you again, unfortunately I got a call and am headed back to Quantico, and don't know when I'll be back in Vegas. So, I just wanted to thank you for everything.  
- Spencer"

"See you tonight?" Rachel asked on her way out of the room.

"What, oh yeah," Lisa answered absentmindedly.

Lisa sat alone in the locker room for a while. Spencer was gone, and she was upset about that, but it was hard for her to her to really be angry, after all he would have been gone in another day anyway, and he had given her a wonderful night to remember him by. Resigning herself to the fact that she couldn't be mad, though she did want to be, Lisa put the letter in her locker, and went about her work for the day, smiling.

When Spencer returned to Quantico he immediately switched back into work mode, rattling off facts, making connections, and deducing things like no one else on the planet could. With him back it took their team only another two days to close the case. It wasn't until they were out unwinding after the case that anyone noticed the changes in him.

Morgan was already on the dance floor with several girls, and both Emily and JJ were on their way to join him. Though they knew Reid would never accept they turned and invited him to join them.

"Come on Reid, wanna join us?" Emily asked, mostly joking. She hadn't expected him to actually agree.

"Sure" he said, quickly finishing his drink Spencer popped up and grabbed both girls by their hands and brought them to the dance floor spinning each of them around. He still wasn't any good at dancing but somehow he no longer seemed to care.

Garcia and Hotch who had been left at their table, shared a look of pure shock, at watching Spencer Reid, being completely care free.

"Did you spike his drink?" Hotch asked.

Not even slightly offended by the question Penelope answered, "No, I don't think so." She grabbed his drink and took a quick whiff.

"Must be some strong drink then," Hotch said taking a sip from his own.

"It's water." Penelope said, causing them both to stare back at the dance floor, wondering what exactly had happened in Vegas.


	14. I miss you

It had been 5 weeks 3 days and 7 hours since Lisa had been informed that Spencer had left. And of those 5 weeks, 3 days and 7 hours Lisa had spent approximately 5 weeks 3 days and 5 hours thinking of him. The missing two hours were a compilation of all the time spent during codes at work. Everyday Lisa would wake up and tell herself that she would be over him soon, and every night she cursed herself for not being over him yet.

It was a Tuesday night and she didn't have to be into work until noon so Lisa was out at another one of Ben's bonfires. She sat on one of the folding chairs set up by the fire. She had been asked to dance a few times, but she just didn't feel up to it.

Michael and Rachel soon walked over to her, Michael's arm wrapped loosely around Rachel's waist. "You still moping over genius boy?" Michael asked, earning himself a smack.

"I'm not moping." Lisa protested.

"Then why aren't you dancing?" Rachel asked.

"I just, don't feel like it tonight." Lisa told her.

"And your excuse for still wearing his tie as a belt?"

Lisa looked down, and blushed, she didn't have an answer for that.

Rachel threw Michael a look and he quickly disappeared. "Lisa it's okay to admit you miss him."

"I never denied it, I just said I wasn't moping about it."

Rachel pulled up a chair next to Lisa. "Okay, so you admit you miss him right?" Lisa said nothing and averted her gaze. "Right?"

"Yes, okay, I miss him." Lisa admitted grudgingly.

"Okay, so why don't you call him? We have his number in the emergency contacts." Rachel asked.

"We're not supposed to use those numbers unless it's an emergency." Lisa gave as a flimsy answer.

"Oh please." Rachel said, clearly not buying it.

Lisa rolled her eyes and looked down at her hands. "If I told you, you just tell me I was being stupid."

"Try me." Rachel said, staring at Lisa.

Lisa didn't look up, "Everything about the last 24 hours with him were picture perfect. I'm talking straight out of a World War 2 romance movie. Perfect night and then he's gone. I don't want to mess that up." Lisa looked up when she had finished speaking, but she couldn't read Rachel's face.

"You know it's not really a World War 2 romance movie unless he's dead and you're having his love child." Rachel said with a straight face.

Lisa laughed, "Okay so maybe not quite a WWII movie then, but pretty damn close."

"Okay, well if you want to keep that movie magic, why not contact him in a fantastic way?" Rachel asked her.

"What'd you have in mind?"

"I'm thinking, An Officer and a Gentleman, except with you in Richard Gere's role."

"So you want me to walk into the FBI pick up an agent and leave?"

As they pictured it they both busted out in laughter. "Okay so maybe the plan is flawed."

"Yeah, a little." Lisa said, still laughing.

Derek Morgan didn't know whether or not he should be concerned about Spencer Reid. Spencer had seemed to finally come out of his shell. He was happy, and confident and their cases, which Spencer normally took harder than any of the other team members, didn't break him down the way they once did. These were not bad changes, but they had happened so quickly. For the first few weeks of this transformation Morgan had watched him like a hawk, waiting for him to show signs of something being wrong, but they never came.

They were on the jet on the way back from another case and Derek was watching Spencer who sat across from him. Spencer had been staring at the same page of his book, for the last 20 minutes, far beyond the amount of time the boy would actually need to read the page. It wasn't until he swore he saw Reid's thumb caress the page that Morgan's curiosity won out and in one extremely immature move snatched the book from Spencer's hands.

"What can possibly be so interesting?" Morgan said as he grabbed it.

Spencer let out a yell, and grabbed, not at the book but at the paper that had fallen out of it. Unfortunately for Spencer Morgan was faster, and seeing the paper fall, had snatched it up before he could. Holding Spencer back with one hand Morgan held the picture out of his reach and looked at it.

"Morgan give it back!" Spencer yelled. The commotion they caused in the tiny space brought every one's attention to them.

"Ahhh," Morgan said , seeing the picture of a soaking wet and smiling Reid, a girl sharing a blanket smiling next to him. "Well that explains the sudden change." Morgan said allowing Reid to grab his picture back.

"I thought that was a hickey on your neck when you got back." Morgan laughed, watching Reid's face turn bright red as he rubbed at the spot on his neck where there had once been a bruise. "it wasn't a hickey" Morgan heard Reid briefly growl.

"What the hell is going on?" Rossi asked, voicing the same question everyone else had.

"Nothing!" Spencer said trying to hide the picture back in his bag.

"Nothing my ass. You've been holding out on us Dr. Reid." Morgan said.

"Morgan what are you talking about?" Emily asked.

"Turns out Reid's little transformation lately is all thanks to some secret girlfriend of his." Morgan announced. He hadn't been the only one worried about the sudden change.

"A girlfriend?" JJ asked, shocked.

"She's not my girlfriend." Spencer protested, his face still bright red.

"But there is a she?" Emily said.

Spencer sighed, there was no use hiding it now. He leaned over and got the picture back out of his bag and passed it to Emily. "Her name is Lisa, she's a nurse at my mom's hospital."

"Reid, she's cute." Emily commented passing the picture along the line.

"If she's not your girlfriend why were sitting there staring at her picture?" Morgan asked.

"She's just a friend." He answered, not quite answering Morgan's question.

"You two look a little closer than friends in this picture." Hotch commented handing the picture back to Reid who just looked at it.

"Come on Reid, spill." Morgan demanded.

"Alright, " he said putting the picture away. "We had one date, it was right before I left, but that's it.

"Must have been a really good date, she really made an impact on you" JJ said.

"Yeah, she's something else." He said more to himself than anyone else. "Now if we're done discussing my nonexistent love life …" Reid said, picking his forgotten book up off the floor and opening it to a random page.

"Oh we're not done. I want to know more about your non-girlfriend" JJ said looking for all the world like a teenage girl gossiping with friends.

"What would you want to know?" Spencer asked.

"What is she like? What does she do when she's not working? What are her hobbies? Stuff like that."

"She spends a lot of time with her friends outside of work. They do bar trivia once a week. She has a friend Ben, who hosts the occasional bonfire. She reads a lot, her favorite author is George Eliot, and she likes to look up obscure words."

"A nurse who enjoys bonfires and obscure words, and you didn't marry her?" Rossi commented.

Spencer just rolled his eyes and refused to answer any more questions for the rest of the flight.


	15. Willoughby and Marianne

Spencer waited until he was back at his apartment to pull the picture back out from his bag. He had looked at that picture every day since he'd been back in Virginia, reliving bits of his week over and over again. It had become a ritual for him, as had writing two letters every day, his usual to his mother, and another to Lisa that he would inevitably throw out.

Spencer thought about, writing or calling Lisa at least 6 times a day, but he didn't have her number and none of his letters ever seemed good enough. And as the weeks went by and Lisa made no attempt to contact him it seemed stupider to even think about contacting her, she obviously didn't want to hear from him, after all she had his number, and other contact information, available to her at her work, she had used it once before. Still every night Spencer pulled out the picture, wrote the letter and threw it out, before going to bed.

Lisa hadn't been sleeping well lately instead she stayed up late watching old black and white movies. She hadn't thought much of it, attributing it to stress and restlessness, but when while shopping in town she picked up a Jane Austen novel and had seriously considered buying it, she knew the exact reason that she wasn't sleeping.

"Sense and Sensibility?" Emily asked, "You never struck me as an Austen fan."

"I'm not" Lisa told her putting the book back down.

"Well that's a good one. I love the character of Marianne."

"Yeah?" Lisa asked absent mindedly as she picked up another book.

"Yeah, she's all about passion and love and life." Emily gushed.

"Doesn't she nearly die of heartbreak, only to settle for a man with tons of money?"

"Wow, way to kill the romance." Emily said, rolling her eyes, and walking off to another section of the book store. Sighing heavily, Lisa went to follow Emily, grabbing the book, on her way hiding it beneath the ones already in her hands.

She spent most of that night trying in vain to sleep. Flipping over violently trying to find a better position, Lisa stared out in whatever direction her head had fallen in, and found herself face to face with the book. Figuring that she wasn't sleeping anyway, she sat up and picked the book up. As she read through the Austen novel Lisa picked out all the details that made it too fluffy and adorable to make the attractions seem real. However no matter how much of the book she could nitpick and rationalize she still found her heart breaking as Willoughby scorned Marianne.

The next day Lisa sat playing a game of chess with Diana.

"So, Lisa, have you read any good books lately?" Diana asked, making conversation.

"I actually just finished an Austen novel." Lisa told her, gaining a disapproving look.

"Lisa," Diana tutted, "I thought you had better taste than that drivel."

"There's nothing wrong with a little drivel now and then." Lisa said moving a pawn.

Diana just shook her head. "So which one did you read?"

"Sense and Sensability."

"Ah yes, as I recall the only truly realistic part of that book is the character of John Wiloughby leaving the character Marianne Dashwood."

"A little too realistic if you ask me. "Lisa commented.

"Yes well you would feel that way, going through a heartbreak of your own." Diana said, causing Lisa's attention to shoot up.

"Excuse me?" Lisa asked, shocked.

"I might be crazy, but I am not dumb or blind" Diana told her, 'and Lisa, let me tell you something about my son, he may be a genius but he's not always the smartest man. If you want him, you're going to have to make the first move."

"Diana, are you giving me permission to hit on your son?" Lisa asked, still shocked by the older woman's words.

"No, I'm taking your bishop." Diana said, as though the previous part of the conversation had never occurred. "Checkmate"

Lisa stared at Diana, unable to process exactly what had just happened.

"Well I think I'll go take a nap." Diana said getting up and heading to her room, winking at Lisa on her way.

Lisa sat there stunned for a moment longer before getting up and walking into the break room, where Emily was sitting watching television. Lisa began to flip through the emergency contact book looking for Diana's page.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked.

"I'm going to call him." Lisa said.

"Finally!" Rachel said turning off the television. "So what are you going to say?" she asked excitedly.

This stopped Lisa in her tracks. "I don't know. I hadn't gotten that far."

"You hadn't thought that out? It's been two months and you're just going to call him up out of the blue and have nothing to say?"

"Yeah that's kind of all I had."

"Well then good luck." Emily said, leaving Lisa alone to make her phone call.

Having found the page with his number on it Lisa picked up the phone, but she couldn't bring herself to dial the number. Thanks to Emily all she could think of was that It had been two months and she didn't know to say, so she hung the phone back up and walked back into the recreation room, her good mood now gone completely.


	16. The End

Lisa had always been impulsive. When she was 7 she broke her arm as she jumped from a tree, because at that moment she wanted to see if she could fly. When she was 13 she kissed Jimmy Barkhouse because someone had dared her to. When she was 18 she had left home and gone to California, because she thought some sun might do her good. When she was 22 she decided to be a nurse after watching one too many episodes of ER and when she was 27 she invited Dr. Spencer Reid to a bonfire because she wanted to see how he'd act. Now just over 2 months after that last impulsive act she stood on the sidewalk outside of a flower shop just across the road of FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia staring at the government building.

Lisa had been standing outside the shop for so long that eventually one of the women working in the shop came out to check on her.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked walking up to Lisa.

Lisa turned and blinking as though she had just come out of a trance responded to the woman. "Huh? Oh, uh yes. Is that the FBI building?" she asked turning back to face the building.

"Yes." The woman answered tentatively.

"Right." Lisa said, and then suddenly turned back to the woman. "Are you married?" she asked.

The woman was shocked but answered, "Yes, 14 years."

"How did you know he was worth it?" she asked.

The woman looked back and forth from the building to the girl in front of her and something suddenly clicked. "You're not from around here are you?" she asked.

"No, I live out in Vegas." Lisa told her.

"That's pretty far."

"Yeah it was a pretty long flight."

"Well Miss…"

"Lisa"

"Lisa. Well Lisa for you to come all the way out here it must be for something really special." The woman told her.

Lisa thought for a moment. "You're right." She said, missing the woman's smile. "Thank you." She said, and then turned and began to walk down the street.

"Wait!" The woman called out to her. "Aren't you going to go see him?"

"No." Lisa said and continued to walk back to her hotel.

It had been a long week at work, and the moment he finished his last report Derek Morgan was determined to go to a bar. Signing his name on the bottom of the last page, he slammed the file down and let out a happy sigh.

"Alright who's coming with me?" he asked standing up and stretching his back.

"Count me in. I'll go ask JJ." Emily said finishing up her own report.

"How 'bout you Reid?" Morgan asked.

"Sure why not?" Spencer said closing a file and getting his stuff.

Penelope and the others were also easily swayed into coming along to the bar. Morgan happily bought the first round of drinks more than ready to get everyone to relax.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm now that is one fine looking honey over there." Morgan said gesturing to a girl at the bar.

"Honestly Morgan, do you ever think about anything other than sex?" Emily asked, turning to look at the girl.

"She is pretty hot." JJ said causing everyone to look at her. "What? She is."

Everyone laughed, and the topic quickly changed, the girl at the bar, forgotten.

"I don't believe it." Spencer said, attracting Morgan's attention.

"Don't believe what, kid?" he asked. Spencer didn't seem to hear him though. Spencer had gotten up and was walking away. Following Spencer's eye line he saw it led directly to a girl on the other end of the bar.

"Where's he going?" JJ asked.

"I have no idea," Morgan answered.

Spencer didn't notice his friends watching him, he was too caught up in what he was seeing. He hadn't believed it at first. When he had looked up and saw a girl who looked exactly like Lisa, he had figured that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. But when he saw his tie hanging around her waist, he had to be sure. So without thinking he had gotten up to approach the girl and find out for certain that she was not Lisa, but as he got closer, she looked more and more like the real thing.

Hi," he found himself saying nervously. The girl turned around and Spencer's heart seemed to stop. Staring back at him with her own shocked look, was not a Lisa look alike. It was Lisa.

Lisa had gone to the bar to drink herself stupid, after all that was how she felt. She had flown across to country to see a guy she had one date with, a guy who hadn't even kissed her, and worst of all she had chickened out. So she had planned on getting trashed and going back to her hotel, she had not planned on turning around halfway through her first drink to find Spencer Reid looking at her.

"Hi," she responded shocked at his presence.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked.

Lisa was not prepared for this, "I had a couple days off and thought, hey why not go to Virginia?" Spencer just stared at her his eyebrow raised. "Bad lie?" she asked.

"The worst." He said, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Right. " Lisa bit her lip, "I came out here to see you." She admitted.

"How did you know I'd be here?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"I didn't. I had actually planned on walking into your work and sweeping you off your feet." She said unable to look him in the eye.

"Seriously?" he asked, clearly amused.

"Yeah well, An Officer and A Gentleman was on when I booked the flight, and it seemed like a good idea at the time." Lisa chuckled.

"You do know I work for the FBI right? You probably would have been arrested if you tried." The smile on his face let her know he wasn't trying to be critical.

"Yeah, I'm not that good at planning I guess." She said.

"No, you're not." Lisa smiled.

"You know I haven't been able to stop thinking about you." Lisa admitted after a lingering silence.

Spencer's smile grew and he put his arms around Lisa's waist, causing her to rest her arms on top of his. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you either."

Lisa could feel her body beginning to tingle, her pulse was speeding up, her breathing becoming labored and her stomach tied in knots. As her eyes began to close, she wasn't sure she could take much more. "I swear to God Spencer, if you don't kiss me this time I am going to explode."

She could feel Spencer laugh lightly before she was lost in a completely new feeling as he pressed his lips to her. This was her new favorite feeling.

"Come on, I want you to meet some people." Spencer told her as they broke apart, and he lead her back to his table, his arm around her waist.


End file.
